Rumor: Mark Zuckerberg orders himself a Pagani Huayra

Although we knew he was driving a Volkswagen Golf GTI, it appears that Mark Zuckerberg wants to get to the next level in terms of cars. According to some rumors, the chairman and chief executive of Facebook has just ordered a Pagani Huayra. The Italian supercar was officially launched in North America earlier this week and it is believed that Zuckerberg put down a deposit in order to enter an exclusive circle.

Among the celebrities who own a Pagani supercar are Lewis Hamilton, Wyclef Jean and David Heinemeier Hansson. For those who don’t know, the Pagani Huayra is powered by a 6.0-liter Mercedes-AMG M158 V12 Bi-turbo engine that delivers 730 hp and an impressive 1,000 Nm of torque.

Power is delivered to the rear wheels through the 7-speed sequential transmission. As you may expected, the Pagani Huayra does not come cheap as it has a base price of over 1 million euros and it is offered as standard with carbon ceramic brakes, Iconel titanium exhaust, a front lifting system, touchscreen media centre, navigation system as well as a premium sound system.

If you want more to customize it you’d better be prepared to pay up as the full carbon bodywork costs 112,500 euros, while the rear view camera is available for 4,900 euros.

The Pagani Huayra revolves around the aerodynamic concept of a wing, which can be modified by altering the front ride height and by adjusting the four control flaps on each of its four corners. The aim of this wing was to endow the Huayra with a neutral vehicle behavior under all conditions as well as aerodynamically control body roll. The flaps behave according to command of a dedicated control unit that receives information – like speed, steering angle, lateral acceleration, yaw rate and throttle position -- from the ABS and ECU.

Thanks to this system, the Huayra could experience improved levels of aerodynamic efficiency in a number of driving conditions where a low drag coefficient is not considered as a major factor. For instance, the rear flaps and the front suspension are raised during braking to offset the weight transfer as well as balance the weight distribution between front and rear axles – thereby resulting to more efficient use of the rear brake force.

During the development of the new Huayra, Pagani aimed to ensure clean airflow over the body. While the shape of the two air intakes located behind the shoulders of the occupant pay tribute to the supersonic aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s, their main purpose is to allow the engine to breathe without any flow disruption.

In addition, the aperture located between the engine bay window and the carbon clamshell of the rear bonnet ensures outstanding airflow to the for the gearbox radiator sans any major effect on aerodynamic drag. This design meant that the rear wing could be replaced by the movable flaps.